Commonwealth Games: Tejaswin clinches historic bronze in decathlon

In the back-breaking, unforgiving world of decathlon, where each discipline tests a different facet of an athlete’s body and mind, Tejaswin Shankar battled pain from a knee injury, self-doubt and Glasgow’s biting weather, with temperatures hovering between 14 and 16 degrees Celsius over two gruelling days, to script history in the Commonwealth Games at the Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow on Friday (July 31, 2026).

The Indian all-rounder dug deep to produce personal-best performances in three disciplines—long jump, discus throw and javelin throw—overcoming both physical and mental challenges to clinch a historic bronze medal.

Tejaswin amassed 7,976 points to become the first Indian to win a Games medal in decathlon. Grenada’s Lindon Victor clinched his third straight title with 8,303 points, while Canada’s Damian Warner took the silver with 8,204.

Winning medals in two successive editions of the Games made the latest achievement even more special for Tejaswin. “I’m very happy that after two days, I was able to do all the things that I had to and give everything I could. It’s even more special because I won a bronze in the previous edition [2022] in high jump. This edition, it’s a bronze in decathlon, which is completely different,” he said.

What made the medal even more memorable, Tejaswin insisted, was sharing the podium with athletes he had idolised ever since he took up the sport.

“These are the people whose videos I’ve watched almost every single day since I started competing in the decathlon. To be able to share the podium with them is pretty special,” he said.

Tejaswin also credited long jumper Murali Sreeshankar for helping him navigate the mental challenges of returning from a serious knee injury.

“The one person whose advice I valued the most was Sreeshankar because he had suffered a similar injury after rupturing his tendon. He told me, ‘Just take one day at a time. All you should do is show up.’ Those words kept echoing in my mind throughout the competition,” he said.

Going into the final event, the 1500 metres, the battle for bronze was still alive, with England’s Sammy Ball lurking close behind in overall standings. Tejaswin knew exactly what was required.

“My goal was to run as fast as I could and not let Sammy get too far ahead. I knew he had to beat me by about eight seconds, so I just had to stay close to him,” he said.

Tejaswin said he wanted to capitalise on his two strong disciplines—long jump and high jump and somehow he did it which helped him towards the end. “

“Long jump and high jump are two events which really aggravate that particular injury that I have. And those are my two strongest scoring events. When that 7.82m (long jump) popped up on the board, I drained all the energy I had by shouting. So, I was wondering how shot put and other events would turn out,” said Tejaswin.

“And”, the 29-year-old said: “I have to go through all of this again in around six weeks time at the Asian Games.”